


Why won't you love me now?

by thesoundofnat



Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Confessions, Crushes, M/M, Pre-Slash, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-17
Updated: 2019-02-17
Packaged: 2019-10-30 12:21:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17828474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesoundofnat/pseuds/thesoundofnat
Summary: Rhodey had failed to realize Tony’s feelings were toward him. Tony had failed to mention it.(Or, The thing about your best friend constantly bringing up your crush is that it becomes increasingly harder to keep the fact that he’s the said crush a secret, Tony discovers.)





	Why won't you love me now?

Tony had never been one to hide his attraction to someone. Had never found any need to pretend he wouldn’t say yes if someone in particular proposed a night filled with more pleasurable activities, and if his friends mentioned it he wouldn’t lie about it. But it became an entirely different thing when that lust turned into something else.

He wasn’t subtle.

At all.

And he fucking hated it.

Rhodey was the one to notice it first with Pepper. Tony could deny it all he wanted, but it was so painfully obvious to both of them that he’d harbored feelings for that woman for years. Through one nights stands to kidnappings to iron suits. He’d had it bad. Rhodey hadn’t pressured him, but this time around, after he and Pepper had gone their separate ways and remained friends, neither he nor Pepper herself were taking his bullshit.

Tony didn’t know what to do about it.

“You ask them out yet?”

Tony rolled his eyes. “Hello to you too.”

Rhodey glanced up from his phone. “Hi. You didn’t answer my question.”

“If I had a date with someone you would be the first one to know,” Tony replied, grabbing a tangerine and peeling it at the counter, mostly to not have to look at Rhodey sitting at the kitchen table. “What’s it to you anyway?”

Rhodey laughed. “Testy. It was just a question.”

“One I hear way too often.”

“I figured I could remind you of the fact that they won’t wait around forever.”

Tony stilled his fingers. “Who says they’re not taken already?”

“With your track record I feel like they’re not. You wouldn’t waste time getting to know someone like that if they were.”

“You think I would stick around someone purely to sleep with them?” He resumed his peeling. “When I fall for people it’s because we were friends first, you know. Not because I planned on it happening.”

Rhodey sighed, and Tony glanced to the side to find him holding up his hands. “All right, I give.”

“I’m happy single anyway.”

“I don’t doubt that, but Tones.” Rhodey tilted his head at him. “I know you. I know you have no problem having fun with people you barely know, but- well, you don’t do that when you like someone.”

“Your point?”

“I can tell it’s a lot easier for you to say you’re content rather than act like it. Because you’re not.”

“Content.”

“Yeah.”

Tony popped a tangerine piece into his mouth. “You done analyzing me?”

“I know your breakup with Pepper hurt you. I don’t want you to make bad decisions due to fear, s’all.”

“Why you claim I’m in love with someone is beyond me.”

“Who said anything about love?”

Tony pointed at him. “You got me there. Want a piece?”

Rhodey held out his hand. “Changing the subject, I see.”

“You’ll steer it right back in that direction soon enough,” he said, taking two steps to hand him the fruit. “Jesus, you’re obsessed with my feelings.”

“Only because I’m quite pleased that you have any.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Any man who has gone through what you have would shut themselves away from  _everyone_. Which you do. But I’m just glad you let someone in for long enough to feel something again.”

Tony hummed. “What about you then? Any dates in the horizon? Don’t think I haven’t noticed you’ve been single since Carol.”

Rhodey’s face betrayed nothing. Tony had suspected he’d been over Carol for a while now, but it still didn’t explain the perpetual singleness. “No…  _proper_ dates, no.”

Tony patted his shoulder. “As long as you’re happy. See? I don’t force you to make moves.”

“I’ve never forced you, Tones. I just- I don’t want you to suffer when you could very well have them if you only asked.”

“I can’t have them, Rhodey. The world doesn’t work like that.”

“So there is someone?”

Tony didn’t reply. Popped another piece of his tangerine into his mouth. Chewed slowly, swallowed loudly. “Come on. I have a meeting in twenty.”

Rhodey had failed to realize Tony’s feelings were toward him. Tony had failed to mention it.

* * *

 

The first time Tony had crushed on someone Rhodey noticed it immediately.

“Who is it?” he’d asked, all amusement as Tony’s teenage self had blushed to his scalp.

“How did you know?” he’d demanded rather than denied.

“You’re a walking ray of sunshine recently, and it finally clicked why. Now spill.”

Ever since then Tony had been so very aware of how easy he was to read that he almost always told Rhodey at least some variation of the truth if feelings had gotten involved. Usually Rhodey didn’t ask for too much. A name, and if he couldn’t get it out of him he never forced it out. He usually figured it out anyway.

The older they got, the less they properly talked about it. Rhodey had practically been quiet about Pepper, even though he’d known before Tony probably had. It was such a big deal when you were younger, and now it was part of life. What kept him bringing it up was the fact that Tony apparently got so stingy about the subject that it was like free entertainment.

“It’s the only times I see you timid,” he’d once said, and Tony had cursed the fact that he couldn’t keep a small fucking crush to himself. Cursed the fact that he couldn’t talk about it either.

“How exactly can you tell if I-”

“Like someone?”

“That.”

“Well,” Rhodey had said, the two of them still young. Barely fresh out of college. “You just give off that vibe.”

“Elaborate.”

“You look like you need to tell me something or else you’ll burst, and then you rarely do.”

Maybe it was a best friends thing, but the Avengers seemed to notice his enamored behavior too, though only Nat brought it up once and then never again.

“How does one fall for his best friend after so many years?” was what she’d said. Fuck if Tony knew. He’d always loved Rhodey, and then suddenly he loved him in another way as well. An additional way. If Rhodey didn’t love him back, which he didn’t, Tony would still keep his friend in his heart for the rest of his life.

It was a bit of a tragedy.

Rhodey could never know.

Tony had become an expert of not seeking Rhodey out when he was having a Rhodey-related crisis, which was almost every other night. It was strange not going to the one person you always went to while down, but Tony realized how a decision like that wouldn’t help him in the slightest.

But it didn’t stop Rhodey from seeking him out when  _he_ was having a bad night.

“Do you think they’ll let me live if I quit?” he asked the moment he entered Tony’s lab. “Because trust me, I am so very close to quitting.”

Tony glanced up at him, literally knee deep in a new creation. “Should I threaten them?”

“Not even Tony Stark could do that.”

“Is that a challenge?”

Rhodey’s lips twitched upward. “No, Tony. Not even close.”

Tony huffed. “Give me a sec.”

He heard Rhodey sit down on the leather couch, knowing he didn’t need to offer him anything. If Rhodey wanted something he would simply have gotten it for himself on his way here.

“Whatcha working on?” he asked after a moment of silence as Tony scrambled to finish up his current task.

“New suit. There might be something for you too somewhere.”

“I’m intrigued.”

“I had some time over.”

“Of course you did.”

Rhodey looked exhausted when Tony emerged, oily and sweaty and not entirely sure if he was happy he was in a tank top or not. Surely showing off the body Rhodey had seen for over twenty years wasn’t going to make a difference, but he liked to think that maybe it could.

Tony tilted his head at him. “What’s up? You look rough.”

“Long week. Month really.”

“You wanna talk?”

“Nah. It’s nothing. Just a lot going on right now.”

“Well, I have a still functioning pair of ears in case you change your minds.”

“Thanks, Tones.”

“Don’t mention it.”

“I could use a drink, though.”

“I have to do everything around here.”

Rhodey smirked. “I didn’t hear you say no.”

“Because I’m not an idiot, Rhodes.”

“You know what?” Rhodey grabbed his wrist. “Let’s get dinner.”

Tony tried to not freeze too much at the sudden contact. “Pizza?”

“Chinese?”

“Your wish is my command. JARVIS, you hear that?”

They’d only taken a few bites of their food half an hour later when Rhodey brought it up. “So. No dates in the horizon?”

Tony rolled his eyes so hard he almost feared they’d get stuck. “For Christ’s sake, Rhodey.”

“Just checking.”

“Why is this so important to you?”

“Because I care about you.”

“I know you do.” Not the way Tony wished he would.

But it was fine.

It was whatever.

(It really wasn’t.)

But he was content anyway.

* * *

 

Pepper found out after their semi monthly movie night. “The way you look at him,” she said, voice so soft Tony almost wanted to cry. “How long has this been going on?”

“How exactly do I look at him?”

“Like he hung the moon.”

 _He is the moon_ , Tony didn’t say. The only light guiding him through the darkness.

“Bull,” he said aloud.

Pepper tried so obviously to not smile at him. Tony wished, not for the first time, that he wasn’t so fucking transparent.

“It’s a good thing you didn’t try to keep Iron Man a secret,” was all she said, and Tony could only laugh and laugh.

* * *

 

“Are you ever going to tell me who they are?”

“Why is that important?”

“It isn’t.” Rhodey shifted, Tony’s hoodie slightly too small on him. “But it’s been months now and I still can’t figure it out. Is it someone from the team?”

“Depends on what team.”

“The Avengers.”

“Not  _entirely_.”

“I like that you’ve stopped denying it.”

“Denying got me nowhere, evidently.”

Rhodey tilted his head, observing him. “You look weary. All that excitement is gone. You don’t even blush anymore.” He touched the inside of Tony’s wrist with his fingertips. “What’s going on?”

Tony looked at the dark water before them, the two of them in Malibu like old times. Neither of them acknowledging how different things actually were. “Turns out crushes that lead nowhere are exhausting.”

“Did they reject you?”

“Not with words.”

“With actions?”

“Well, no. But I know they don’t feel the same.”

“They must be a fool.”

“No. They could set the world on fire and I would trust their judgement.”

“Big words, especially coming from you.” Rhodey stroked the sensitive skin, sending shivers up Tony’s arm. “They must be something.”

“He is.”

“He, huh?”

Tony turned back to him and saw something in his eyes that he couldn’t entirely identify. Almost… sorrow?

He blinked. “Rhodey-”

Rhodey withdrew his hand. “It’s getting a bit chilly out here.” He stood. “Let’s go back.”

Tony listened to his steps in the sand, pieces he couldn’t comprehend flying around his mind in a desperate attempt to come together and make sense. The chair fell as he rose, body shaking for different reasons than Rhodey had claimed. “Rhodey.”

Rhodey stopped. Turned back. “Yeah?”

Tony licked his lips, breathing heavily than he should. “Do you really think I should tell him?”

Rhodey looked at the darkening sky, at the sea, and then finally at Tony. “I do.”

“Even if he ends up rejecting me?”

“He’s a damn fool if he does.”

Tony took a step closer. “Rhodey.”

“Tones?”

“How should I do it?”

“For heaven’s sake, Stark. Just tell the goddamn truth.”

Heart hammering so frantically against his chest, Tony took another couple of steps. “Okay.”

Rhodey mimicked him. “Okay?” He could see Rhodey’s face more properly now. His expression unreadable.

Tony inhaled. “Okay.” He leaned in, stopping with his lips only inches away from Rhodey’s, and said, “Is this version of the truth good enough?”

Rhodey closed the gap.

* * *

 

“I kept asking because I had to know,” Rhodey said a few hours later, the room dim and slightly too warm, but no power could make Tony move out of the tangled heap that was Rhodey and him.

Tony squeezed him. “I get that now.”

“I wasn’t too obvious, was I?”

“Maybe to others, but I was too busy freaking out every time you asked.”

Rhodey laughed. “I’m glad we figured that out.”

“So am I, honey. So am I.”

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on [tumblr](http://thesoundofnat.tumblr.com/)!


End file.
